The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed:

source: *clarity*

I can remember the first time I learned you could use vinegar for general cleaning around the house.  I was pregnant with my first daughter, and was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 (classy, I know).  They had a guest on the show, Sara Snow, who was teaching them how to go green around the house. Kate and Sara were in the kitchen, and Sara told her that she could combine half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and use it to clean her kitchen and all around her house.

At that point in my life, I don’t think I’d ever even purchased vinegar, maybe once for a recipe, but I’m not even sure about that. On the show, Sara stated that vinegar had disinfecting qualities, and Kate had remarked that she remembered her grandmother using vinegar to clean. And I figured that if they were talking about it on TV, then it must be true, and it must work well. Right?

I was brand new to the whole green and natural living thing, but I decided that using vinegar for cleaning would be a good place to start.

So, I headed to the store, bought myself some vinegar and a spray bottle, and I’ve never looked back.

Now days, I purchase vinegar by the gallon, and usually at least two at a time. I continue to be amazed at all of the many uses for vinegar around the house, and love that it is such a simple, non-toxic, and of course, frugal solution.

Here are 20 basic and easy ways you can use vinegar all around your house:

1. General cleaning

Mix vinegar 50/50 with water in a spray bottle for a great multipurpose, general cleaner that kills germs and disinfects.

2. As rinse aid in the dishwasher

Instead of using a commercial rinse aid, like Jet Dry, in your dishwasher, just pour in undiluted vinegar.

3. As fabric softener in the washing machine

Instead of using conventional liquid fabric softener, pour vinegar into the fabric softener dispenser. Your clothes won’t smell like vinegar, I promise!

4. Weed killer

Kill weeds by either spraying them with undiluted vinegar, or pouring the vinegar over them for those growing in crevices and cracks.

6. Drain cleaner

Pour baking soda into a slow moving drain and follow with vinegar. Let it foam up and set for a while, and then flush with hot water.

7. Odor remover

Vinegar can help to remove odors all around the house, either spray your vinegar and water solution into the air, use a cloth soaked in vinegar to wipe down an area that smells, or spray fabrics or carpet with vinegar to remove odors.

8. Carpet cleaner

The solution of vinegar and water makes an effective carpet cleaner, I’ve found it to be especially good on pet stains. Be sure to test a small spot first to make sure your carpet is color-fast.

9. Remove water rings from furniture

To remove white rings left by wet glasses on wood furniture, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil and apply it with a soft cloth. Use another clean, soft cloth to shine it up. To get white water rings off leather furniture, dab them with a rag soaked in full-strength white vinegar.

10. Clean and sanitize the garbage disposal

Make ice cubes out of vinegar and run them through the garbage disposal to clean and sanitize it.

source: A Delightful Home

11. Make homemade soft scrub

This homemade soft scrub is my favorite scouring cleaner for the bathroom.

12. De-greaser

Vinegar is a great de-greaser. You can add some to dishwater when washing greasy dishes, it’s also great for cleaning a greasy range hood.

13. Clean the dishwasher

Pour a cup of vinegar into an empty dishwasher and run it through a full cycle to clean and sanitize the dishwasher.

14. Clean the washing machine

Fill  your empty washing machine with hot water (or follow your manufacturer’s instructions) add a cup of vinegar and run through a full cycle.

15. Clean the coffee maker

Fill the water resevoir of your coffee maker with half vinegar half water and turn it on, letting the vinegar and water filter through. Rinse twice with just plain water.

16. Clean a tea kettle

Boil vinegar and water in a tea kettle to clean it and remove water deposits. Be sure to rinse thoroughly before using it again.

17. Clean mini blinds

Take your mini-blinds down and soak them in the bathtub with warm water, a few squirts of dish soap and a cup vinegar. Rinse thoroughly and hang back up to dry.

18. Clean the shower head

Remove mineral deposits from your shower head by filling a plastic baggie with vinegar and wrapping it around your shower head, securing it with a rubber band. Let it soak overnight.

19. Make citrus-infused vinegar

Soak orange, or other citrus, peels in vinegar to create your own citrus scented cleaner – great for cleaning floors.

20. Make homemade lemon dusting cloths

Make your own lemon scented dusting cloths by soaking microfiber cloths with water, vinegar, olive oil, and lemon rinds.

A few final notes

You should not use vinegar on porous surfaces like granite or marble because it can damage the surface.

Vinegar does have a very strong smell. I find that is dissipates quickly, and as mentioned above, actually helps to remove other odors around the house. Some people though (my husband included) still have a strong aversion to the smell of vinegar.  Adding essential oils can help it to smell better, but may leave behind an oily residue.

If you find yourself having a hard time getting over the smell, my advice is to just skip the vinegar for general cleaning. You don’t have to torture yourself. There are plenty of other great non-toxic, easy and frugal ways to clean your home without using vinegar.

I’m sure there are so many more uses for vinegar that I haven’t even discovered yet. So go ahead, get yourself a gallon of vinegar and start using it all around your house!

Do you use vinegar around your home? Share your favorite household use for vinegar with us!

	Emily McClements is passionate about caring for God’s creation while saving money at the same time. She is a blessed wife and mama to two young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed.

20 Uses for Vinegar Around Your Home is a post from Life Your Way

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source: Lori Ann

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Tan/Green about Ways to Reduce the Trash in Your Garbage Can, and I’m excited to welcome Erin from The Humbled Homemaker to Life Your Way:

Up until a few years ago, I really didn’t think much about green living. To be honest, I balked at recycling and organic eating as fads, and I chalked off natural cleaning and body care products as something only the uber rich could afford.

Fast forward to June 2008. As I held my firstborn bundle of joy in my arms, I suddenly realized I was in charge of her well-being–from the food I fed her to what I put on her body to the environment I was helping sustain (or destroy) for her future.

And in those first few weeks of her life “going green” took on new meaning. It was no longer a fad. It was a necessity if I were going to best care for my daughter.

No, I didn’t dive in all at once, but that day I began baby steps to my journey as a new mom going green.

Are you a new mom looking for some green living baby steps? Check out 7 ways new moms can go green:

1. Breastfeed.

I know this is easier said than done for some women. There can be challenges like mastitis, thrush, and working, but if you can breastfeed, you’ll not only be providing your baby with the most natural food possible, but you’ll be saving waste on formula containers and bottles as well as the gas it takes to get to the store to buy those items–not to mention the electricity it takes to warm up bottles!

2. Use Cloth Diapers.

Now, I didn’t even consider using cloth diapers with my first. Even the thought turned my stomach. But when my first was not ready to potty train when my second daughter came along, I started crunching numbers and knew diapers might very well put us in the hole! Thankfully, I had several friends using cloth diapers who convinced me that they really are no grosser than using disposables. Sure, it might take slightly more time since you have to wash them, but the savings to your wallet and good stewardship to Creation are most definitely worth it! Besides, cloth diapers are way cuter and softer than disposables! (Line drying your diapers will make this step even greener.)

3. Make your own baby food.

When I buy baby food, I feel like I am wasting both money and packaging. Sure, I re-purpose old baby food jars, but at some point I have to recycle them, and then I feel bad for ever buying so many in the first place. Making your own baby food is very easy in a blender or food processor, and you don’t have to worry about all those excess jars!

4. Use natural care products on your baby’s skin.

With my first baby, I thought natural body wash and shampoo would be too pricey to try. Thus, I continued to use a conventional brand until my second came along. By that point, I realized the potential dangers of conventional soaps, and I was determined to avoid exposing my girls to those toxins! When my second was a few months old, I started making my own baby shampoo and wash. I also occasionally use Burt’s Bees–especially during the newborn stage.

5. Use natural care products on yourself.

The longer I’m a mom, the more I realize that taking care of myself is taking care of my girls. So in the past couple of years I’ve slowly been making the switch to natural skin and hair products. One of my favorite products to use is Mandi’s homemade deodorant. It’s super easy, and I always have the ingredients on hand! The best part? It actually works!

6. Switch to a whole foods diet.

When I first married, I scoured the grocery store for the cheapest food I could find. But when I became a mom, I realized that cheap does not always mean quality. And many times the cheap, convenience food I purchased was detrimental to our health–and the health of the planet. Now, my family still operates on a tight budget, but I’ve learned that switching from pre-prepared convenience foods to whole foods, like simple meat-and-produce dishes has served my family’s well-being, helped preserve the environment, and still kept my pocketbook intact.

7. Switch to environmentally-friendly cleaners.

With two (and three come August!) girls under the age of four, I am keenly aware that almost anything in our house may go into their mouths at one time or another. For that reason, I like to clean with non-toxic cleaners. I now use products like Norwex cloths and Crunchy Clean’s pure oxygen, and I make my own cleaners using mostly vinegar, water, baking soda, and essential oils. My go-to all-purpose cleaner is a very easy-to-make citrus cleaner.

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What are some ways you’ve gone green after becoming a mom?

Erin is a Jesus-loving, cloth diapering, natural birthing, (mostly) real-food eating, breastfeeding natural wife and mama to two little redheaded girls (with a 3rd on the way!). She writes for her local newspaper, blogs about her far-from-perfect homemaking at The Humbled Homemaker and edits eBooks at Your eBook Resource.

Ways to Reduce the Trash in Your Garbage Can

7 Ways New Moms Can Go Green is a post from Life Your Way

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This giveaway is now closed! The winner is Sarah (sej1032@…) and Debbie (balix1@…)!

There are a handful of books I’ve read that I’d consider truly life-changing. Grace for the Good Girl, The Screwtape Letters, Last Child in the Woods and In Defense of Food are among those.

And now? I’d add Jen Hatmaker’s 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess to the list as well.

The premise of this book is simple, but the results are anything but.

Jen Hatmaker, author and Bible teacher, took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Over the course of seven one-month challenges, she fasted from excess in seven different areas: food, clothes, spending, media, possessions, waste, stress.

This book is a journal of her struggles along the way and the lessons she learned through each fast.

Can you imagine eating just seven foods for an entire month? We have an unbelievable variety of food at our fingertips, while much of the world suffers without enough food for basic nourishment, and yet we take it for granted. What if we took time to actually think about and appreciate every bit of food that went into our mouths?

Or as you look at your closet overflowing with clothes, can you imagine wearing just seven articles of clothing for a month? Without worrying about what other people might think?

While every chapter in this book touched me in some way, it was the possessions chapter that had the most impact on me. I literally cried my way through it, which may seem odd given my focus on decluttering and living as somewhat of a minimalist.

But here’s the thing. You know why I declutter my home so often? For my own sanity. For the peacefulness that comes from not having overflowing shelves and an abundance behind every door.

Jen challenged this thinking so poignantly in this as she talked about the needs not just around the world but in our own communities. As I shovel things out the door and to the closest donation center, she was prayerfully donating items to specific families who needed them. As I wash my hands of all this excess stuff (that seems to find its way into our home time and time again), she is looking for ways to bless individuals and to hold on to items until she can bless someone specifically with that item.

What a selfish stance I’ve taken in the past, thinking only of the effect that stuff has on my own life. I still want to clear that stuff out, but I want to do so for the benefit of others; and I want to sacrificially give to others as well, not just when something happens to be in my way!

Jen’s book is radical, no doubt, and she doesn’t ask her reader to imagine living the rest of their lives with just seven foods or seven items of clothing. The goal is to step back and look at each of these areas with a new sense of clarity and intentionality. To see the waste and the excess and to walk away from those things.

Enter to Win

I received a review copy of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess for free, but I loved it so much that I want to buy a copy for two Life Your Way readers!

To enter, fill out the form below:

This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, 5/17. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well! Open to U.S. residents 18 years old and above.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (Plus a Giveaway!) is a post from Life Your Way

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The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:

source: Aberdeen Proving Ground

Did you know that of the 84,000 or so chemicals floating around the American marketplace, the EPA only has “sufficient health and safety information” on 200 of them?

The New York Times recently poked fun at parents who make their own cleaning supplies from baking soda just to try to avoid toxins, and although they also included helpful information on the pervasiveness of toxic chemicals in our world, Andy Igrejas is afraid the public will miss the point: that chemicals are making us sick, and the government has little to do with making the situation better.

In classic backwards logic, the 35-year-old law governing chemicals gives them the same amount of credit and leeway as human beings: innocent until proven guilty. Only they forget to take any of them to court to make sure they didn’t commit any crimes or harm any citizens. If a certain chemical is proven to be harmful, the law makes it very difficult for government agencies to restrict its use.

It’s time for a change.

The Safe Chemicals Act, introduced in May of last year and due soon for a vote in the Senate, offers much-needed reform to our toxic world.

What’s in There?

Some of the points the new act would address include

1. Require EPA to identify and restrict the “worst of the worst” chemicals, those that persist and build up in the food chain;

2. Require basic health and safety information for all chemicals as a condition for entering or remaining on the market;

3. Reduce the burden of toxic chemical exposures on people of color and low-income and indigenous communities;

4. Upgrade scientific methods for testing and evaluating chemicals to reflect best practices called for by the National Academy of Sciences; and

5. Generally provide EPA with the tools and resources it needs to identify and address chemicals posing health and environmental concerns.

I’m not one to get very, if I can help it, and I do think that government does a bit more meddling than it ought. After all, dumb laws are responsible for flame retardants in children’s sleepwear, which takes away my free choice, and raw milk being illegal to sell in Michigan, which I can at least work around.

I don’t think government should make all of our choices with us, but of course there have to be some laws of the land, or we’d all be in a mess of trouble.

Will the Law Help?

source: Lady Dragonfly CC

Is this Safe Chemicals Act a healthy balance between government making the decision about good and bad and simply requiring information to be shared with the consumer? Will it help us get rid of some things that really are nasty?

Allow me to toss out some brief opinions on each point:

1. Sounds good to me; can getting rid of chemicals possibly be bad? (I bet there is a way. Someone will tell me the way; I’m waiting to learn.)
2. I’m excited to have more information, and hopefully that information will be easily accessible to the consumer. Where this point could go awry is the tax payer money it will cost to enforce.
3. How in the world does this point realistically shake out? I guess I need to read the act to see what practical steps are recommended to achieve what is an admirable but vague goal.
4. This sounds like a good idea…how much will that cost? Will positive change really result from better testing?
5. As long as the EPA doesn’t start saying that innocuous substances, or perhaps things like raw milk, need to be banned, I’m hoping this point can’t go wrong.

You can read more about the Safe Chemicals Act here and even see the full text of the act here along with some other links of interest.

Do Something to Make Change Happen

If you’re feeling politically active, sign the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families petition here and join over 76,000 other people (hoping for 100,000) in asking your Senator to clean up the toxic chemicals in the U.S. Are you in the D.C. Area? Join the stroller brigade to bring awareness to taking action on toxic chemicals.

The Safe Chemicals Act seems like good legislation and a bandwagon worth jumping on, but any time the government gets involved in daily life, there’s a risk.

What if all the information is as (not) helpful as the federally regulated “zero trans fats” labels that allow trans fat to be used? This is the same governing body, we must remember, that mandates vaccines that many parents disagree with and don’t recognize naturopathy as a genuine medical tool worthy of insurance, even though many find healing with naturopaths.

I’m not sure how many decisions about toxic chemicals the government is qualified to make, but hopefully in this case, knowledge will be power. Knowing what chemicals are swimming in the sea of commerce and just how those chemicals might impact our children’s health may give concerned parents and other citizens the fuel they need to teach one another how to create healthy homes, government regulations or not.

Popular opinion seems to have worked in getting BPA out of most containers on the market today, and I’m hopeful that the culture’s tide will turn even more strongly toward the natural life and away from the toxic chemicals that are unabashedly befriending our children daily.

What do you think? Does government have a place in toxic chemical reform? Is this Act something you hope will pass? (If so, sign the petition!)

Sources: SaferChemicals.org 5/2011, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families press release

	Katie Kimball is a mom of three who spends a ton of time in the kitchen making real food with whole ingredients and then blogs about her successes and failures at Kitchen Stewardship. She believes everything in life is a gift from God and should be taken care of wisely.

Will the Safe Chemicals Act be Enough? is a post from Life Your Way

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